Episode 93: Philosophical Theories vs Bad Explanations

from The Theory of Anything · host Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen

Can philosophical theories be refuted? What is a bad explanation? Can all theories be made more empirical? In search of an answer to these questions, Bruce takes a deep dive into what he believes is the correct way to apply “Popper’s ratchet” to metaphysical or philosophical theories. Along the way, Bruce puts forward a generalization of testability he calls “checkability” and explains why “vague-maning” our theories is “worse than dogmatism.”

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This episode was published on September 17, 2024.

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